A Nightmare Is Just A Dream Without You In It
by Genesis Chi
Summary: The Doctor has a habit of getting it wrong when it comes to what Rose Tyler wants, some times more obvious than others. (WILL CAMEO AT LEAST THREE DOCTORS AND A HOST OF NEWWHO CHARACTERS - Includes suggestions of many pairings, but the main one... you'll have to read and find out!)


**EDIT: This story has been reformatted since I don't like chapters as short as these have become, so I decided a oneshot looked neater. For any who have issues with written panic attacks then you might want to steer clear of this, as it becomes more prominent throughout, if anyone's disturbed by pregnancy (like me, but I had to write it, so I did) you might want to tread carefully on section 6 or just ignore it.**

**Okay, I started writing this quite a while ago, it came about during a discussion with Emmitha (check out her stuff, like me she struggles to finish things sometimes, but, the stories are good! The Immortal!Rose one is amazing) which made me confident enough in the idea to start writing it – and now it's finally done!**

**You may notice some people acting a little OOC in various places, this is intentional for reasons that should become clear by the end.**

**PS: Cover art by AmbrogioKaru from tumblr, I did send her an Ask for permission but never got a reply so I'm just saying that if she objects I'll take it down.**

Rose yawned and rolled onto her back, flopping an arm across her eyes to try and return to sleep, she was just so warm and cosy in her blanket, she didn't want to wake up yet. Curling into a foetal ball her foot brushed something warm, body temperature in her bed, a smile grew on her face as her sleepy brain brought up who was in bed with her – she slept with the Doctor, had done for months now, ever since "I love you." in fact. A faint grumble emanated from the collection of long limbs she'd disturbed, amusingly enough – to Rose anyway, the Doctor was always grumpy about it – when he actually went to sleep, he never ever wanted to get up again.

Well, unless certain tactics were employed, as they were about to be. Rose rolled over onto her left side to snuggle up to his bare back, pressing kisses to his spine which she happened to know was actually rather ticklish.

"Good morning," she murmured cheerfully into his shoulder, to which he merely grunted in response, burying his face into the pillow in his classically pathetic attempt to fall back asleep after she'd awakened him.

"S'not good Rose, s'too early to be good."

She glanced at the clock on her bedside table, 10:23AM "Do you even know what time it is?" she asked incredulously.

The fact that he didn't answer with the hour, minute, second, nanosecond and time in three different time zones at least really should have been the most prominent in a growing list of subtle clues that something was amiss.

"Sometime in the morning, AKA too early."

"Aww, too early even for me to tell you this weird dream I had?" she rubbed her nose against the famous mole between his shoulder blades.

"Good weird or bad weird?" he responded, it was such a routine answer he could do it even in his want-sleep-can't-have-sleep state.

Rose thought back on it with anger, sadness, a little disgust but mostly confusion "Probably bad weird, almost definitely bad weird, not much about it good weird."

He yawned and rubbed his eyes before flopping back to the pillow with a bored 'Mmm' to show he was listening. Rose rolled her eyes as his rudeness, having long since learned to accept it she simply flicked his shoulder to alert him of the fact, also being used to the idea that he very often wasn't aware of his impoliteness.

"It started off really bad, you'd just sent me away, _again_, I came back of course but something happened so I couldn't get back, that bit was all a bit rushed and I'm not sure the specifics but we were separated for years." While lost in the memory of her dream and focussing on remembering it, Rose failed to notice the way the Doctor stiffened beneath her fingertips and the way he ceased to breathe. "Now, this part's quite funny actually, I was really clever and productive and made a machine to get me back home, where you were just a toddler and moped the whole time, doing absolutely nothing but whine about it to absolutely _everyone_." Rose giggled a little at one of her unconscious mind's imaginings of the Doctor complaining to a redheaded woman who promptly followed up by rolling her eyes and giving a mock-slap motion before hugging him in a rather motherly way. Rose couldn't quite pinpoint who the dream-woman reminded her of, all she knew was bright ginger hair and a rather unusual brand of compassion. "Now," she whispered sombrely. "Everything goes downhill from there, even though I use my machine thing to get back to you, you accidentally made human clone of yourself and just threw him and me back through to where I was trapped before, giving a stupid speech between the two of you how I'd somehow be _happier _with an ageing human rather than the wonderful Time Lord I signed up for – as if!"

A faint sound of discontent escaped the Doctor's mouth, drawing Rose's attention back to the real world instead of her thoughts. Wait, blue? A bright blue thing in the corner of her eye, she turned to look and saw it to be a rather obnoxiously blue... suit.

Just like the human clone had worn in her dream.

No...

Rose immediately placed both hands on the 'Doctor's' back, feeling for his heartsbeats, only one, and he was far too warm. No, no no, this couldn't be happening, it was a dream, just a dream! She scrabbled away from him as he rolled to try and catch her wrists, swatting at his too-human hands before losing her equilibrium and slipping from the bed to the floor with a yelp of horror to find herself naked in front of the consequence of a nightmare.

"Rose, hey, Rose it's okay, everything's fine, take a deep breath, it's just me, don't you remember?"

Her lower lip trembled as the realisation hit upon her that she was trapped here in this other universe that definitely wasn't home with a Doctor lookalike that... that shared a bed with her, oh God...

Rose squeezed her eyes shut, thinking to herself: _It's just a dream, when I wake up I'll be back with the real Doctor and all this will be sorted_, then, for good measure she murmured aloud "There's no place like home, there's no place like home..."

...

"Rose! Rose, c'mon wake up! We've got to go job hunting or it's no money for us, and no money means no house and doors and carpets and mortgage for us which means living on the street since we certainly cannot use the psychic paper forever and the money room is a big implausibility now isn't it?" A distinctly hyper voice roused her from sleep as did the rather violently rocking of the bed as he jumped on it to get her up.

"God Doctor, breathe every few words would ya?"

"Why should I need to, I've got my respiratory bypass to do the breathing for me, well actually no because that's not how it works, but do you think I should mention that in an interview, that I can hold my breath for a really long time and—"

"Doctor be quiet, shut up and make 'er give me a comfier mattress, I dunno what I did but it's rock hard."

He was silent, the kind of silence the Doctor only had when lesser species would start to cry. A distinctly damp-sounding inhale and then he pounded into "Silly little human brains taking time to warm up in the mornings, needing stupid small things like tea or coffee to get going, but then again tea is very good, I like tea with all those brilliant free radicals, not to be confused with hippies, which are also free radicals, but not the chemical kind, _well_... not that type of chemical anyway. Speaking of chemicals, have yours got going enough yet for you to remember where we are? We're on Scoddellfrajsk in the Decinovus Galaxy in the year locally known at 43K and the date is 2nd March according to their system, they have a quicker orbit to their sun and only have ten months, meaning they're getting progressively more out of sync with the rest of the human colonies which kept the traditional twelve, well, I say traditional, it's actually rather new to you... Well, I say new, the Romans added July and August, the originals, not the ones we didn't go see in my ninth—Anyway, we were dropped off by Zach and Ida and the others, this firing those synapses yet?"

Rose sat up in an instant, rubbing her eyes furiously to make the blur of rich brown come into focus as the Doctor sans his trench coat "Wait, this is just after Krop Tor an' the Beast?"

"Yes." he ground out, jaw tight as Rose's favourite pair of skinny jeans before softening into a look of concern "Rose, are you alright?"

Her eyes had widened to almost comical, and she'd gone white as the seemingly universal standard of hotel sheets beneath her – hence his worry.

"Wait... This can't be right, I was just with..." she trailed off, horrifically confused as the details trickled away from her, it had been awful, she remembered that, something to do with being separated from the Doctor, and the colour blue being the most terrible thing in the world.

The Doctor sat down beside her, grasping her hand with far more desperation than was his norm "You were dreaming Rose." he murmured softly "The mind's way of coping with trauma is sometimes to conjure other scenarios for us in dreams, some more pleasant than others though that usually depends from person to person depending on their personality and general philosophical mindset." at her blank expression he elaborated "Whether they are generally optimistic or pessimistic, by choice or not actually either of those attributes of one's personality can affect many things in life, mental health, relationships, even so far as what timelines are available in a select few..."

Rose had mostly tuned out his ramble, but one word had stuck with her, somehow seeming important. "Timelines...?" she mumbled thoughtfully, trying to pinpoint why her brain had spotlit it as invaluable information.

"Yes, it's what my people called the many paths a person or event can take due to the choices that are ma—"

"No, Doctor, shh, I think I've just had an idea to get the TARDIS back!"

His eyes sparked with just the tiniest glimpse of hope, though it was quickly smothered and replaced by an attentive yet only slightly curious expression "And this idea is?"

"Couldn't we just, y'know, find someone with one of those things Jack had, or even Jack himself and ask them to drop us off?"

"Rose, are you sure you're okay, don't you remember why we can't get help from Jack?"

"Yeah, I know, he's helping people on Earth, doesn't mean he can't do us a favour."

"Rose, you do realise how many years we'd have to wait before we coincided with any version of Jack?" he asked solemnly, not meeting her eyes.

"Well, yes, but couldn't we just, y'know, get his attention, do something that'll stick around like carve a message into a cliff or something?"

The Doctor shook his head sadly, all signs of his previous attempts at hope disintegrated into dejected misery "Afraid not, we're in the middle of nowhere, even if the message survived he'd never receive it, the Time Agency won't even be developed for another thousand years so it'd still be next to impossible to send them a SOS as well."

Rose's lower lip trembled as it crashed down upon her – dawned was far too gentle a word to describe the horrendous realisation – that she was trapped, completely and truly trapped, on an unpronounceable planet in a galaxy she'd never heard of light years from Earth and two thousand years from her own time, she'd never see her mum or the Tardis again and the poor Tardis would be all alone for the rest of her very long life stuck at the bottom of a hole in a planet orbiting a black hole.

She couldn't help it, she burst into tears, for the Tardis, for the Doctor, for herself, all trapped, all without someone they cared about. Rose launched herself into the Doctor's arms, latching on tightly before they too were torn from one another and he was left entirely alone in the Universe.

"This isn't right." she sobbed "Jus' none of it!"

"I'm sorry, Rose, I'm so sorry."

"I wanna go home." she whimpered into his shoulder, trying to burrow into him so nothing could ever touch them again.

"Me too..." his tone held such depressive nostalgia that Rose closed her eyes in sympathy and held him that much tighter, he snorted "Nothing seems to want to stay with us, does it?" he said, mostly to himself.

"There's me..." Rose responded wearily, misery sending her drifting back into sleep, even against her compassionate wishes to console the Doctor, but oh, he was stroking her hair and warm darkness consumed her.

…

"Rose!" The Doctor called "What're you doing still in bed?!"

The dulcet Northern bark had her jerk awake instantly, her cosy pink room coming into sharp focus as the Doctor burst into her room nearly giving her a heart attack with the bang of the door and the heavy clump of his boots.

"Rose Tyler, you'd sleep your life away if you could, wouldn't ya?" he chuckled "But not today, you're getting dressed an' coming with me to Barcelona, planet, not city, Doctor's orders."

"You think you're so funny." she stuck her tongue out at him before flopping back into her blankets, mumbling "Five more minutes."

"Time Vortex Rose, it's been a billion years and minus seven hours all at the same time for us."

"God..." Rose groaned tiredly, covering her eyes with her hands "How does the Tardis keep up with you?"

"Multidimensional being, doesn't need sleep or any of the normal requirements of life, only the energy of the Universe, which she can get from various Rifts like the one in Cardiff."

"As if, I bet she needs a rest sometimes, Mr I-don't-sleep, you completely conked out after your regener— regeneration?" Her words halted as she studied him: big beautiful ears, liquid blue eyes turned to ice from the coldness forced upon him in the Time War, leather jacket as armour, practical jeans and boots, short and to the point in his speech – not even a hint of the Doctor she'd grown to love, instead, the one she'd fallen for at the very beginning.

"Regeneration? What are you talking about? I will have you know I have never even considered having work done, 'cept maybe the ears..." he paused in thought, probably contemplating his appearance if the 'goofy' – as he referred to them – ears were replaced.

"Doctor? Please, this is getting really weird now, can you please just tell me what the hell is going on!"

His brow furrowed in concern as he approached another two foot before stopping, giving her space "Rose, you okay?"

"Doctor, seriously, you gotta listen to me and not freak out because something really odd is going on and I'm actually scared now."

Noting her serious tone he sat at the end of her bed and nodded for her to speak.

"I have no idea what's happening, but I've just been with two versions of you, your next regeneration and a human version of 'im. An' I'm not sure what's real anymore cos I'd woken up from a dream that was real the first time and then you just told me it was trauma creating scenarios in my brain... Please tell me what's happening!"

"Rose, I would say that a change in a timeline somewhere is somehow influencing your memories, but what's all this 'regeneration' business you keep talkin' about? And a human version of me, what a stupid idea, all my mind in a human head, it'd rip 'em apart or at the very least drive 'em completely mad, s'why we used the fob watches for the Chameleon Arches."

"Wha's a Chameleon Arch— Nevermind, s'not important, what d'you mean you don't know what regeneration is, it's what the Time Lords do instead o' dying!"

"Rose, come with me to the infirmary, I'll check you over for concussion."

"I am not crazy! You did it right in front of my eyes, burst into golden light and became another person! Big brown eyes and crazy not-ginger hair, an' you never shut up!"

The Doctor pursed his lips and raised his hands in a placating gesture "M'not saying you're crazy, m'just suggesting you might be sick or influenced by something – have you eaten anything new that I didn't see?"

Rose clenched both her fists and her jaw in frustration "No, no, no! I'm not ill, I'm not possessed, I've not eaten something weird and I wasn't bloody dreaming! Now stop messin' abou' and tell me wha' is goin' on!" She was distantly ashamed of descending back into her heavy cockney accent in her anger, but ignored it to scowl at him.

His eyes seemed slightly shiny now as he looked at her "Rose, you've always trusted me seemingly unconditionally, trust me now when I say I have no idea what you're talking about. I naturally know the meaning of the English word 'regeneration' and can translate it into over a billion languages, but I have completely no idea what you're talkin' about."

Rose emitted a whimper of protest "But, but, I remember all of these things that happened after, there's the Sycorax invasion, Queen Victoria, Sarah-Jane, the Coronation, the Crucible..."

"What are you on about? Whose coronation?"

"Queen Elizabeth! … The second." Rose added as an afterthought upon recalling that there were several Elizabeths. She blinked rapidly, trying to halt her tears now-steady flow down her cheeks "Doctor please, don't you even remember Sarah-Jane, she's your companion from ages ago!"

He shook his head "No, and I remember every single one, not that there've been that many, not all that likeable me."

Rose exhaled shakily, unable to control her trembling "But, why do I remember all these things that happened then?"

"Overactive imagination? Something humans as a species seem to suffer from as a rule. Causes a lot of trouble."

"Doctor! I know all this stuff happened alrigh'! I dunno why you're refusing to talk to me, but my imagination is not tha' good at all! I couldn't create cat nuns and being possessed by Cassandra – eugh! – or one of your Time Lord buddies hypnotising the planet using the phones or giant wasps tryin'ta kill Agatha bloody Christie! Screw this, if you're gonna lie t'me ya might as well take me home righ' now! I'll just wait for the righ' you to turn up and tell me why the hell this you was bein' such a git!"

Right after her aggressively accented outburst, the last thing she saw was her first Doctor's wide blue eyes full of confusion, sadness and the slightest hint of disappointment before she blinked to clear her tears away—

….

And opened them with a squeal at the softly damp sensation of tongue trailed its way along her neck, rich laughter emitted from its possessor as he pulled away from Rose, revealing it to be a thoroughly grinning Jack. "Never fails to rouse the many ladies, gents and assorted other things that swoon before me." he joked, winking and clicking his tongue at her.

"I didn't 'swoon' Jack, I've never swooned in my life."

He tutted at her whilst offering his arm for her to take hold "Such a liar Ms Tyler, you were so positively overcome by the sight of me when first we met that your mind overloaded at the sight of such manly perfection, dropping you in a dead faint."

"Did not!" Rose responded indignantly, clasping a hand to her chest dramatically.

His smile only brightened "If you say so Rosie, c'mon, let's explore!"

Rose laughed as she tugged on his arm, staying resolutely in the spot she stood on and glancing around the for richest and most beautiful blue "Not without the Doctor!" she good-naturedly chided him, the tip of her tongue poking out of her grin such was her happiness to be around Jack, she'd missed him for some reason, though she wasn't sure why when they were together every day...

Jack came back to her in an instant, a slight frown marring his red-carpet handsome features "Hey, Rosie-pose, don't panic, it's just the VM, messes with your head a little the first few times, its got a kick to it, like me." he gave her arm a reassuring squeeze that's soothing effect was lost on Rose such was her rising trepidation at his nonchalance.

_Not again..._

"No, Jack, be serious for a moment an' tell me where the Doctor is. Something's gone wrong with time or something weird and I'm constantly lost away from the Doctor, please, Jack, you've gotta help me – I don't know what to do or what the hell's going on!"

Jack hugged her to his side with an appreciative grin as he traced the lines of her face with his other hand "Calm down Rosie-cakes, just give it a minute, you'll get used to it, we left the Doctor after he caught us _dancing_ in the library and gave you an earful for it, remember? Now we're off to see the whole of Time and Space, and get a lot more sex than you were doing with him. We're doing the Universal pleasure crawl, s'like a pub crawl but with stuff other than drinking included – throughout as many galaxies and time periods as we want! There's a great fantasy bar in the Zxuyuwomo asteroid system in the 73rd century, one of the best things is hearing the entire place try to pronounce the place names while either high, completely hammered, or experiencing out of their world multi-species sex, which for some reason is a regular thing, all of them, not just the trying to say Zxuyuwomo part – it'd be pretty rubbish if that's all they did. "

The blood drained from Rose's face, Jack wasn't able to lie to her, not after she'd learned all his ticks in the conman incident, unlike the Doctor she could always tell, 100% certain if he wasn't telling her the absolute truth – Jack honestly believed what he was saying to be true, he'd never lie about something like this anyway, he was one of her best friends, would never do anything to hurt her.

Could he really be right. Was Rose the one that was wrong, going mad and imagining all these bizarre scenarios with the Doctor as a result of an angry, hurt mind being influenced by a Time Agent's Vortex Manipulator and its disorienting side effects?

"Come on Rose! Let's go do something else, take your mind of it, that'll probably do the trick!"

He tugged again on her arm and she stumbled along after him, lost in thought and unable to appreciate the approximation of the Northern Lights he was showing her, which she vaguely heard him saying was actually the result of thousands of light entities shagging above their heads – typical Jack, making her a voyeur without her even knowing until he told her.

Regardless of her intention to think through all of the scenarios she'd encountered for an answer, the comfort of being pressed up against Jack again was overwhelming, his warmth and his smile, the bright blue eyes and smooth voice accompanied by pretty lights – well, she couldn't help but rest her head on his shoulder, and in minutes was asleep.

"Hope you feel better when you wake up..." Jack murmured as he place a kiss on her hair.

….

"Rose, wake up, we've got to get to the airport in half an hour or we'll be late!" her dad calls from outside the door, knocking loudly to get her attention, oh he knew her well.

"Ugh! Dad, it's the middle of the bloody night!"

A harried snap erupts from the door, her ever-sharp mother storming in with a selection of suitcases and bags, dumping them on Rose's legs, the heavy weight snapping her awake to quickly draw her limbs away before bruising further.

"You know full well that it's 6:30 in the morning but you gotta get up or else no big future in space, my daughter the astronaut – ringing any bells yet?" Jackie pulls back the blankets and points to the glow in the dark stars glued to the ceiling, walls and a few drawers, their dim light abruptly lost when she turns on the main light, it's harsh brilliance a shock to Rose's system.

"But where's the Doctor?" Rose mumbles, blinking confusedly at the brightness, rubbing her eyes from the glare.

Jackie turns to yell "Pete, stall the taxi, she's not even out of bed yet!" a muffled response comes back, but Rose doesn't much care what it was, too muddled by everything that's happening.

Why does her dad seem to be alive? Where's the Doctor? What's all this nonsense about flights and being an astronaut? What the hell was she being woken at bloody crack of dawn for?!

Jackie ruffles Rose's bedhead, handing her a hairbrush "Aww, Rose, wake up sweetheart, you're gonna be the doctor remember? Eighteen more months and you'll have your Ph.D in engineering, then you'll be up in the stars, just like you want, but that means you havta get up now."

Whatever her mother had just said meant absolutely nothing to Rose, she didn't recall any of this, none of it made any sense! Rose grasps her mum's wrist, panic making her grip far harder than necessary "Mum! Where's the Doctor?! Please! Mum you're scaring me!"

Dad's voice calls again "You're going to be late! Rose hurry up!"

Jackie rushes to the door, sticks her head out and bellows "Just a _minute_!"

"I don' understand sweetheart, what doctor?" she strokes Rose's hair gently, brushing through it in an attempt at solace "I think you must've just been havin' a dream darlin'."

"But Mum!" Rose wails, shaking before dropping her head into her hands and outright bawling "No, no, no, this can't be happening, not again—please!" she pinches herself, muttering "Wake up, wake up!"

….

Rose yelps, but not from the pain she'd been expecting, in fact, the sensation isn't on her arm at all—

"Bit cold isn't it?" a lady smiles widely at her as she runs a cold instrument over Rose's... swollen belly.

"Wha, what...?" Rose's voice trembles as a black and white image appears on a screen behind the woman, her eyes bulging what feels larger than the watermelon someone's stuffed inside of her.

This is a joke, it has to be. Some strange bizarre new prank show that's gone way too far and not consulted her in the slightest before abusing her rights and tampering with her body.

"Look at that babe," a voice filled with pride and awe declares from a little ways behind her, she follows the pointing finger to its owner, feeling an overpowering urge to vomit when she sees that it is Mickey, but taking a long breath and swallowing the sheer sense of wrong that's rising in her throat, causing her muscles to rebel painfully. "She's ours." Mick continued, a catch in his voice that furthered Rose's desire to be sick, but she was too busy staring in horror at the distortion of her body, it just wasn't _right_, she'd never wanted kids, not like this anyway!

"Mickey..." Rose mumbles slowly, already knowing the answer, but feeling she has to ask anyway. "Mick, where's the Doctor?" she says softly, tears making her voice choked.

"Rose?" he asks, instantly all concern, sweet thing that he is "What's wrong, d'you not feel well or somethin'?"

Her lips tremble as she bows her head, moaning "No, Mickey, not you too." before snapping upwards to look him in the eye, saying firmly "Please, Mick, you gotta listen to me, something is horribly wrong."

"A beautiful healthy baby." the nurse interjects, seemingly unaware of the intense conversation Rose is trying to have.

Rose crushes Mickey's fingers in her hand, gritting her teeth "Mickey, this is seriously not funny. Where. Is. The. Doctor?"

The nurse finally seemed to catch on that something wasn't right "I can get you a doctor if it'd make you feel better Mrs Smith."

"Quit it!" Rose snaps at the woman, infuriated further by the implication that she married Mickey, eugh!

She sits up, holding Mickey's shoulders, gaze hard as she looks him in the eye, searching for any trace of recognition. "Mickey, how can you not remember him? Alien in a bigger on the inside blue box! Nothing? Big ears, leather jacket and a temper that could've exploded Henrik's by itself! Big hair, pinstripes and can talk you to death! Big... Big chin, bowtie and the worst co-ordination in existence..." Rose blinks and her arms flop to her sides as the recollection hits her. She closes her eyes, a few tears escaping as she whispers "Doctor..." knowing that she will be whisked away from this world at the action.

…

Rose smiled as the memories returned, putting a hand to her mouth as tears of joy flowed freely from her eyes "Oh I remember you, my Doctor..." a content sigh escapes her mouth as she lets the remembrance console her.

She was encapsulated in his arms, he was warmer than he should be really, but he'd just regenerated so that was okay, she was just so glad he was alright that she'd wrapped him in her embrace as soon as his now-green, peridot green, eyes laid on her. He'd kissed her hair and the first words from this new, unexplored body were "I love you," but the comfort had been replaced by a rush of sick falling in their guts as they realised that TARDIS was on fire and crashing and they should really do something about it, but first he stole a quick kiss with those brand new lips that burned anew with the sensation, then pushed off from her shoulders towards the console with a yell of "Geronimo!".

…

Rose awakens at the juddering effect of Amy shaking her by her shoulders, a little too hard as is in the ginger's nature. She can hear Rory's soft voice somewhere behind her.

"But Doctor, why wasn't Rose in the dreams with us? She wasn't even in the TARDIS when we came back here and nearly froze to death."

Rose curls away from Amy a little to hunch in on herself, forcing herself to breathe and attempt to convince herself that this is real by digging her nails into her arm. Amy hesitates before trying to stroke down her back soothingly, starting to pry Rose's clawing hands from her flesh before seeing it is a lost cause from just how badly Rose is trembling, instead merely hugging her friend and running a hand through her hair.

Over by Rory, the Doctor shrugs and answers "No idea, maybe my subconscious would be kinder to Rose than me, guess we'll never know, didn't exactly get the chance to ask. Anyway, moving on from—"

"I seriously doubt it Doctor." Amy intones, making frantic gestures above Rose's head, out of her line of sight, mouthing exaggeratedly 'help me!'

Rose notices nothing beyond the solid corporeal pain in her arms – it grounds her slightly, she can almost believe she's finally in the real world now. Amy's here which she wasn't before, new memories have emerged, but that's happened before. _No, no, no, I want to go home_!

Warmth, safe, _home_ covers her, surrounding her with a double heartbeat she'd love to give herself tinnitus with just so as to never be without it.

"Rose?" Rory's gentle, bedside-manner voice burrows its way through the fog of fear numbing Rose's mind "What happened? Where were you?"

She doesn't answer, can't answer, can't even think of the various possible timelines she could have been trapped within – _no, just no, no, no, no!_ The tweed jacket under her fingers and cheek are scratchy, biting into her skin, but she doesn't care, barely feels it, just holds on tighter, digs in further, wanting to push herself into the _rightness_ of it. A soft pressure lends itself to the crown of her head and a shudder travels downwards from the touch as familiar arms compress her tighter.

"Doctor!" she sobs, the name finally escaping frozen lips in a shout of anguish, releasing Rose's voice from wherever it had been lost and letting many more flood out "You're here, you didn't leave me, you're real, you're you, they're happy, I'm happy, everything's right and as it should be, you're—"

The Doctor gently rocks them both side to side where the sit sprawled on the floor, stroking her hair slowly and firmly, "Shh Rose, you're alright, you're absolutely right Rose, we're all together in the TARDIS, as it should be, Amy and Rory, the Doctor and Rose, absolutely perfect."

The TARDIS hums louder and to the Doctor's rhythm, Rose can hear Amy and Rory talking in the background of the mental cocoon she is gradually emerging from, she catches snippets of their conversation, apparently they'd been in not-too-pleasant dream sequence as well, but she instead focusses on the soft words the Doctor is still speaking "Precious Rose, you're safe, you're back, you're here." and by this point she's a little unsure whom he is trying to reassure, but doesn't much care, the sleepy warmth of the safe circle within his arms is so lovely, she just wants to fall into a dreamless slumber.

And it just makes her think, that he knows so perfectly how to calm her, they're so in tune that even in a circumstance so wholly new and different, and horrific as this one, he knew exactly how to help her.

"I love you," she chokes out past the lumps of emotion situated at various points throughout her body, "So much."

His cool lips press to her forehead this time, the kind of desperate pressure only he can do which somehow displays far more than even a full-on snog. "I have a few billion languages to work with Rose, and none of them, not even the higher ones like Gallifreyan have the tenses or modifiers I'd need to express just how much I need you. Never leave me, please."

"I promised you forever Doctor." She reminds him, finally lifting her head so that they are nose-to-nose, and she smiles when he Eskimo kisses her.

"Eugh! Just kiss her Doctor!" Amy laughs, nudging the back of his head perhaps a little too hard as it pushes Rose onto her back with the Doctor on top of her, they laugh uncomfortably at Amy's attention until she scoffs and leads Rory into the depths of the TARDIS with the muttered "Jeez, for long-declared lovebirds you two don't half need a nudge every few seconds!" directed back at them.

"Lovebirds, honestly what does she think, one day we'll fly, leave the nest?"

"Wouldn't be the first time you've made me fly Doctor." Rose smirks from her position beneath him.

The Doctor gasps in mock affront "Rose Tyler! I do believe you are being cheeky!"

She flutters her eyelashes, giggling, "And what are you gonna do about it Doctor? Still the same, all talk and no dancing."

He lowers down, finally letting his weight rest on her stomach "Minx." he murmurs fondly as he claims her lips.

**Soooo, that's it, that's the story I've been trying to write for ages, I know, I'm not very good at characterisation, but I just wanted to write the story.**

**So yeah, a not-totally-obvious AU of Amy's Choice, and perhaps slightly more creative than many versions that just include Rose in the same situation... I thought it would be better to explore what the Doctor's subconscious had in store for her – and that's why particularly Jack may have been OOC, since it's how the Doctor subconsciously thinks of these people, and what he thought Rose wanted out of life, not necessarily what was true.**

**Nice comments make this depressive Autistic happy, so pretty please?**


End file.
